Education at off-site locations

Changes to the Education Act mean that your school might now need to get approval from the Ministry of Education when you're educating students at an off-site location.

The approval and written agreement will set out who’s responsible for education at the off-site location and who’s responsible for the welfare and safety of students there.

For schools with existing off-site locations

If your school already has an off-site location, your local Ministry office will contact you and guide you through the process for getting approval and a signed agreement. These need to be in place by 19 May 2018.

New off-site arrangements

An off-site location needs our approval only if all of these 5 points apply:

One or more students enrolled at your school or another school will be using the site.

Students will be educated at the site.

The use of the off-site location is ongoing not temporary.

The site is separate from the school’s main delivery site (your usual address, which can include closely-located split sites such as a side school).

There are 2 parties – your board whose students are going off-site and the host party (which could be a subcontracted third party using its own or another site). Your board needs to provide evidence to us that the host agrees to the use.